The Role of Pre-Production within the media production process

Research

Research is a key part of any media project as it can help predict the outcome of the project and can greatly help with the design and production of the project. Because of this research is a key and very important part of any project.  From previous project I have seen first-hand how useful research can be and is. For example if you we making a website you would look at websites which are similar to the one you have to make to get an idea of other things of the same specifications.

Research can also help give an idea of the target audience for the product you are designing which can help you make the design better and more suitable for said target audience. If the product being designed requires hardware specifications, research into demographics to see what the target audience has so you can make the product actually fit them, for example if a new game was released and had specifications that most people couldn’t meet, sales would decrease a lot.

Schedule

Using a schedule helps greatly when organising a project as it can give you a rough of idea what you should be doing and when, this also helps greatly when you have to create a budget and calculate the total costs of the project and pay assuming your being paid by the hour and you have to keep track of how many hours you worked to calculate the hourly rate.

A schedule can help greatly when for example you are working with rented or borrowed equipment, obviously it will help you identify when you will need the equipment and for how long. This can also help the budget assuming you have to pay for the equipment or another variable such as location.

Conversation between the client and designer(s)

Keeping notes or recordings of conversations that a designer(s) have had with the client can also be useful when in the design stage of a project. Keeping notes on what has been said can help refine a product and make the finished product overall better and more fitting to what the client wants. Although a design brief can also do this, notes can be more in-depth, less formal and easier to understand.

Design Brief

As mentioned above, this can help refine a product and make the finished product better suited to the original brief. Although notes are similar, a design brief contains the exact elements of what are needed and/or wanted by the client. This is also something that is produced and discussed at a first meeting with a client, to try and help the later design of the product to be easier and more suited. The design brief is an essential piece of pre production because it contains so much valuable information about the product and project, it aside from the client themselves, is the main source of information and guidance because it exactly states what must be done. Whereas notes would normally just be extra details to help make the design later on.

Planning

Planning can help make a project more efficient and cost effective because you can critically see what is needed and how long it will take you to carry out to complete, this also pairs with a Schedule in the respect that it can do many of the same things. However it can do more things because it is not limited to just time keeping, it can contain initial designs and other such documents.

Planning can also help define what roles which people will have assuming it is a group project. This can also increase the efficiency of the group as people will understand and know what they should do and when.

Risk Assessment

When borrowing equipment or filming, a risk assessment must be carried out to calculate and highlight the risks of the area that the project will be carried out in. This is done for health and safety reasons and as pre-cautions when borrowing equipment.  This is also done in conjunction with a “Recce” with is a map of the area you are going to film in, but showing camera angles and where actors/props will be. Although both of these are required for filming they are not required for other projects, for example a website, for obvious reasons.

Development Log

While it may not be required it can help to keep a log of your progress in a project, it can also help keep track of how many hours of work were put into the project. It can also show the client progress, and they can refer back to it when reviewing it.

Preproduction in advertisement

To plan and create an advertisement several preproduction documents should be carried out and/or done, for example research. Researching other advertisements can help to see what other similar products have done, and to also see what attracts the most attention. Although it can also show what has not been done yet which can lead to new types of advertisements.

A schedule will also be needed if the client would like the project to be finished quickly and ready for dispatch. Design briefs will also be a lot of us

Pre production in Film

Although for the most part film in the same as other media in regards to which production it requires, it does require a few extras, such as a "Recce" or a map of the area in which you are going to film in. A script is also needed assuming the video is going to have dialogue. A schedule, but higher detailed it also required at professional level to manage where actors and such items will be at certain times, again this can help in many ways like a schedule as it can optimise the time you have an actor and make sure you don't over pay them.

While film requires more different pieces of preproduction it still requires a lot of the same ones as other media.  

Pre production in Game Design


When designing a game many pieces of pre production should be carried out in order to please the target audience. For example, researching HUD designs between game genres and different games. For example an RPG (Role Playing Game) will most likely have a different HUD compared to an FPS (First person shooter), this is because they are different genres. Game designers will be able to see this from carrying out research into their designated genre, and from experience of playing games. As for actual designing of the appearance of the game more research will be carried out into the same genre to see what the other companies have done to either create something similar or something new. For example FPS games appear to have donned the solider walking as the cover. Companies also release trailers before the game is released to increase popularity and increase sales, this is also a video and would require editing in a such fashion for the correct target audience. 

Conclusion

After covering what seems to be the main part of preproduction individually earlier, I'd like to move on and mention that every part of preproduction is important; the entire preproduction process is a key and very important part of a project. Words cannot stress the utter importance of the matter. Just from simply doing any part of the process will help the project a lot because it gives you a wider perspective on things thus making your thoughts clearer and such. For example if one were to make a website, looking at other websites of the same type would give an idea of the target audience and such and thus the final product will be more suited to the specifications made earlier and stated in the design brief. Where some pieces of the preproduction helps the designer(s) create the final piece, some pieces are vital to actually starting the project, for example the design brief, as mentioned above it was very important for obvious reasons. Pieces like that and the notes from meeting with the client can act as a support to the entire project, giving support and a form of guidance through the entire thing.